Old World Traditions, New World Homes: The Oscar Blevins Farm; an Interpretive Program at Oscar Blevins Farm, Saturday, November 23

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area announces a 45-minute, ranger-led interpretive program about traditional log construction. Please meet Park Ranger Bill Herman at the Oscar Blevins farm to learn about many of the old world traditions used to shape log structures during the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. This informative program is scheduled for Saturday, November 23, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. The Oscar Blevins Farm is located adjacent to the Bandy Creek Loop Road 1.3 miles west of the Bandy Creek Visitor Center. Please wear weather-appropriate clothing for this outdoor event. For directions or additional information, please call the Bandy Creek Interpretive Center at (423) 286-7275.

Log cabins are traditional American icons; for they inspire a sentimental pride of the restless, pioneering spirit that built the United States. Many log structures here in southern Appalachia provide architectural clues into the ethnic identities of old-world cultures that migrated into and settled in these mountains during the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. Sadly, during the twentieth century many of these pioneer structures, like the split-rail fence or a water-powered mill, simply became relics on the cultural landscape. Thankfully, Big South Fork National River and Recreational Area has preserved several log structures for this and future generations.